Richard Ashrowan
Encyclopedia
Richard Ashrowan, is a moving image/video artist working in Scotland. He specializes in multi-screen moving image installations, most often relating to themes connected with natural landscapes. His work has been widely exhibited in the UK and Europe.
in the early nineties. From 2002 to 2007 he worked in partnership with Scottish artist Alexander Hamilton under the name 'Hamilton & Ashrowan'. The Threshold Artspace, a large and fully networked multi-media 30 screen digital canvas installation in Perth Concert Hall, was conceived by Hamilton & Ashrowan.
Since 2007 Ashrowan has worked independently, creating works largely derived from locations in Scotland, including Fingal's Cave
on Staffa and the Anglo-Scottish border
. His works have been exhibited at the Foksal Gallery
and Fabrycka Sztuki in Poland, the Brukenthal Museum and Casa Artelor in Romania, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
in Edinburgh, An Tobar in Tobermory, The Forest Gallery, Selkirk, the Ruskin Gallery
in Cambridge, and the Threshold Artspace in Perth. Alongside his practice he is currently (2009) pursuing a postgraduate research project at Edinburgh College of Art
. He lives and works in the Scottish Borders.
. In 2007 Hamilton & Ashrowan were commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
to make a series of moving-image portraits of Richard Demarco
. In 2009 he produced a book of photographs of the border between England and Scotland. to accompany a solo exhibition of his film and photography installation 'Lament', exhibited in Romania. Ashrowan describes his work as a process of "honing down the overwhelming complexity of a given landscape place to find within it those images and movements in time that seem to hold the essence of a feeling, a vital intensity. Many of the images I create could be described as microcosms of place, emotion, time and memory."
2009
Lament / Fingal's Cave, Atlantic Islands Festival, Isle of Luing, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics
, July 2009
Fingal's Cave
, Mendelssohn Festival, An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, June 2009
Lament, Society of Scottish Artists
annual exhibition, Vision Building, Dundee, May/June 2009
Lament, Forest Gallery, Selkirk, April 2009
Lament, Casa Artelor, Timisoara, Romania, March 2009
2008
Fingal's Cave
, Foksal Gallery
, Warsaw, Poland, June/July 2008
2007
Contact Rushes, Fabrycka Sztuki, Lodz, Poland, December 2007
Contact Rushes, The National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania, November 2007
Contact Rushes, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
, Edinburgh, August 2007
Evanescence - Ice/Thaw Norway, Demarco European Art Foundation
, Edinburgh/Glasgow
2006
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Ruskin Gallery
, Cambridge, October 2006
2005
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, October 2005
The Guru, Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, October 2005
2003
The Windmills of Innerleithen, Innerliethen, Scottish Borders, June 2003
Reception, Ledingham Chalmers, Edinburgh, January 2003
Brantwood
, Former home of John Ruskin / Brantwood
Trust, Coniston, Lake District, England
2004 -2005
Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Lead Artist
Anglia Ruskin University
, Cambridge
Corporate Collections:
Ledingham Chalmers, Edinburgh
Borderline, Timisoara, Romania, Group catalogue/ conference paper 2009 - In Romanian and English
Fingal's Cave / Blue Flora Celtica, Foksal Gallery, Poland, Joint exhibition catalogue 2008
Contact Rushes / Poprzez Portret, Fabryka Sztuki / Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Exhibition catalogue 2007
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Threshold Artspace, Exhibition catalogue 2005
Threshold, Threshold Artspace, Project catalogue 2005
The Windmills of Innerleithen, Exhibition catalogue 2005
Reception, Ledingham Chalmers, Exhibition catalogue 2003
Biography
Ashrowan was born in 1966, in Essex, England. After training in Chinese Medicine he was a founder member of the charity Open Road, he played with an experimental ambient/techno band ShenShen
Shen can refer to:* Shen , a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, terms for God, and Traditional Chinese Medicine* Shen , a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mirages...
in the early nineties. From 2002 to 2007 he worked in partnership with Scottish artist Alexander Hamilton under the name 'Hamilton & Ashrowan'. The Threshold Artspace, a large and fully networked multi-media 30 screen digital canvas installation in Perth Concert Hall, was conceived by Hamilton & Ashrowan.
Since 2007 Ashrowan has worked independently, creating works largely derived from locations in Scotland, including Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern...
on Staffa and the Anglo-Scottish border
Anglo-Scottish border
The Anglo-Scottish border is the official border and mark of entry between Scotland and England. It runs for 154 km between the River Tweed on the east coast and the Solway Firth in the west. It is Scotland's only land border...
. His works have been exhibited at the Foksal Gallery
Foksal Gallery
The Foksal Gallery or Galeria Foksal is a non-commercial art gallery in Warsaw, Poland established in 1966. Its small size belies its internationally influential reputation as a gallery that maintains a strong tradition of showing work by avant-garde contemporary artists.-History:The Foksal Gallery...
and Fabrycka Sztuki in Poland, the Brukenthal Museum and Casa Artelor in Romania, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...
in Edinburgh, An Tobar in Tobermory, The Forest Gallery, Selkirk, the Ruskin Gallery
Ruskin Gallery
The Ruskin Gallery is a gallery within the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield, England.It houses a collection of minerals, paintings, ornithological prints, drawings, manuscripts and architectural plaster casts assembled by John Ruskin....
in Cambridge, and the Threshold Artspace in Perth. Alongside his practice he is currently (2009) pursuing a postgraduate research project at Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is an art school in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing tertiary education in art and design disciplines for over two thousand students....
. He lives and works in the Scottish Borders.
Work
Ashrowan's work is in video installation, still photographic works on paper and written texts, based upon close observation of natural landscapes. His earlier work was strongly influenced by John RuskinJohn Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. In 2007 Hamilton & Ashrowan were commissioned by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...
to make a series of moving-image portraits of Richard Demarco
Richard Demarco
Richard Demarco, CBE is an Italian Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts.-Richard Demarco Gallery:...
. In 2009 he produced a book of photographs of the border between England and Scotland. to accompany a solo exhibition of his film and photography installation 'Lament', exhibited in Romania. Ashrowan describes his work as a process of "honing down the overwhelming complexity of a given landscape place to find within it those images and movements in time that seem to hold the essence of a feeling, a vital intensity. Many of the images I create could be described as microcosms of place, emotion, time and memory."
Exhibitions
Solo and Group exhibitions2009
Lament / Fingal's Cave, Atlantic Islands Festival, Isle of Luing, Scottish Centre for Geopoetics
Kenneth White (poet)
Kenneth White is a Scottish poet, academic and writer.-Biography:Kenneth White was born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, Scotland, but he spent his childhood and adolescence at Fairlie near Largs on the Ayrshire coast, where his father worked as a railway signalman.White obtained a double first in...
, July 2009
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern...
, Mendelssohn Festival, An Tobar, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, June 2009
Lament, Society of Scottish Artists
Society of Scottish Artists
The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art....
annual exhibition, Vision Building, Dundee, May/June 2009
Lament, Forest Gallery, Selkirk, April 2009
Lament, Casa Artelor, Timisoara, Romania, March 2009
2008
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave
Fingal's Cave is a sea cave on the uninhabited island of Staffa, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, part of a National Nature Reserve owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is formed entirely from hexagonally jointed basalt columns, similar in structure to the Giant's Causeway in Northern...
, Foksal Gallery
Foksal Gallery
The Foksal Gallery or Galeria Foksal is a non-commercial art gallery in Warsaw, Poland established in 1966. Its small size belies its internationally influential reputation as a gallery that maintains a strong tradition of showing work by avant-garde contemporary artists.-History:The Foksal Gallery...
, Warsaw, Poland, June/July 2008
2007
Contact Rushes, Fabrycka Sztuki, Lodz, Poland, December 2007
Contact Rushes, The National Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu, Romania, November 2007
Contact Rushes, Scottish National Portrait Gallery
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art gallery on Queen Street, Edinburgh, Scotland. It holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. In addition it also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection...
, Edinburgh, August 2007
Evanescence - Ice/Thaw Norway, Demarco European Art Foundation
Richard Demarco
Richard Demarco, CBE is an Italian Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts.-Richard Demarco Gallery:...
, Edinburgh/Glasgow
2006
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Ruskin Gallery
Ruskin Gallery
The Ruskin Gallery is a gallery within the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield, England.It houses a collection of minerals, paintings, ornithological prints, drawings, manuscripts and architectural plaster casts assembled by John Ruskin....
, Cambridge, October 2006
2005
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, October 2005
The Guru, Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, October 2005
2003
The Windmills of Innerleithen, Innerliethen, Scottish Borders, June 2003
Reception, Ledingham Chalmers, Edinburgh, January 2003
Residencies
2007Brantwood
Brantwood
Brantwood is a country house in Cumbria, England, overlooking Coniston Water. It has been the home of a number of prominent people, including John Ruskin. The house and grounds are administered by a charitable trust, the house being a museum dedicated to Ruskin...
, Former home of John Ruskin / Brantwood
Brantwood
Brantwood is a country house in Cumbria, England, overlooking Coniston Water. It has been the home of a number of prominent people, including John Ruskin. The house and grounds are administered by a charitable trust, the house being a museum dedicated to Ruskin...
Trust, Coniston, Lake District, England
2004 -2005
Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Lead Artist
Public collections
Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall, PerthAnglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University
Anglia Ruskin University is one of the largest universities in Eastern England, United Kingdom, with a total student population of around 30,000.-History:...
, Cambridge
Corporate Collections:
Ledingham Chalmers, Edinburgh
Publications
Lament, Nowhere Arts, Artists monograph 2009Borderline, Timisoara, Romania, Group catalogue/ conference paper 2009 - In Romanian and English
Fingal's Cave / Blue Flora Celtica, Foksal Gallery, Poland, Joint exhibition catalogue 2008
Contact Rushes / Poprzez Portret, Fabryka Sztuki / Narodowe Centrum Kultury, Exhibition catalogue 2007
A Landscape Symphony in 22 Movements, Threshold Artspace, Exhibition catalogue 2005
Threshold, Threshold Artspace, Project catalogue 2005
The Windmills of Innerleithen, Exhibition catalogue 2005
Reception, Ledingham Chalmers, Exhibition catalogue 2003